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Kluge Fellowships

About the Kluge Fellowships

The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress invites qualified scholars to conduct research at the Kluge Center using the Library of Congress collections and resources for a period of four to eleven months. Established in 2000 through an endowment of $60 million from John W. Kluge, the Center is located in the splendid Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. The Kluge Center furnishes attractive work and discussion space for Kluge Chair holders, for distinguished visiting scholars, and for post-doctoral Fellows supported by other private foundation gifts. Residents have easy access to the Library's specialized staff and to the intellectual community of Washington.

The Kluge Center especially encourages humanistic and social science research that makes use of the Library's large and varied collections. Interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, or multi-lingual research is particularly welcome. Among the collections available to researchers are the world's largest law library and outstanding multi-lingual collections of books and periodicals. Deep special collections of manuscripts, maps, music, films, recorded sound, prints and photographs are also available. Further information about the Library's collections can be found on the Library's website: http://www.loc.gov/rr/.

Eligibility

Scholars who have received a terminal advanced degree within the past seven years in the humanities, social sciences or in a professional field such as architecture or law are eligible. Exceptions may be made for individuals without continuous academic careers. Applicants may be U.S. citizens or foreign nationals. Upon selection, and in accordance with relevant visa regulations, foreign nationals will be assisted in obtaining the appropriate visa. To meet the minimum eligibility requirements, the degree must be formally awarded by the deadline date.

Tenure & Stipend

Fellowships are tenable for periods from four to eleven months at a stipend of $4,200 per month for residential research at the Library of Congress. The Kluge Center reserves the right to offer fewer months than originally requested. Fellows may be given residence at any time during the fourteen-month window between June 1 of the year in which the Fellowship is awarded and August 1 of the year following. Stipends will be paid monthly by the Library of Congress, by means of electronic transfer to a U.S. bank account.

An explanation of why the Library of Congress is the required venue for your research (maximum 1 paragraph)

A bibliography of works you have consulted for your proposal (maximum 3 pages)

3 references with completed reference forms from people who have read the research proposal

Due Date

The annual application deadline is July 15. Application materials must be submitted by the deadline date via the Kluge Center's online application system.

Language Certification

For applicants whose native language is not English, there must be evidence that the applicant is fluent in English so as easily to conduct research, discuss work with colleagues, and make a public presentation, although the ultimate product of the research may be written in the applicant's native language. For English speakers who seek to do research in the Library's foreign language collections, there must be evidence that they have a command of the relevant language or languages at the level requisite for serious research.

Expectations

Kluge Fellows will give one public presentation of their research and provide a final report on their research and its results. Two copies of any ultimate product of this research (book, article, film, website, etc.) should be sent to the Library of Congress. Kluge Fellows will also have opportunities to meet with Library specialists and curators, and on occasion with Members of Congress and Congressional staff.

Awards

Up to twelve Kluge Fellowships will be awarded annually by the Library of Congress. Awards will be announced in the spring of the year following that in which the application is due. For overseas Fellows, award letters will address visa questions and include a form which must be filled out and submitted to the Library of Congress to determine tax residency status and the potential for U.S. Federal income tax withholding. Scholars who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents and who do not already have a U.S. Social Security number will be required to obtain either a Social Security or tax identification number, as appropriate, at the start of their fellowship at the Library, regardless of the taxability of their income under this program or exemption under a treaty with the United States. Transportation arrangements are the responsibility of each Fellow. Housing is not provided by the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress does not supply health insurance coverage but can provide contacts with commercial providers. Because the United States does not have a national health plan, if a selectee becomes ill or injured during the term of appointment, there is no provision for care.

Contact Information

Completed application packets should be submitted via the Kluge Center's online application system. Applications submitted via email, fax, or regular mail will not be considered. For questions about application procedures, eligibility, stipend or deadlines, please email scholarly@loc.gov or write to us at:

2008

Marcy Dinius
Kluge Fellow, 2008, University of Delaware, "The role of the daguerreotype in the literature, rhetoric, and visual culture of American abolition, 1833-1860."

Monica Dominguez Torres
Kluge Fellow, 2008, University of Delaware, "Armorials of the Anahuac: the production, regulation and consumption of indigenous heraldy in 16th century Mexico."

Petr Eltsov
Kluge Fellow, 2008, Freie Universitat, Berlin, "Rejecting the state: a study of the Harappan society from the point of view of archaeological data and ancient Indian sociopolitical theory."

Maya Jasanoff
Kluge Fellow, 2006, University of Virginia, "British loyalists who fled to various parts of the British Empire during and after the American Revolution."

Krzysztof Jaskulowski
Kluge Fellow, 2006, University of Wroclaw, Poland, "Anglophone theories of nationalism and the construction of Eastern Europe; the condition of the current debate on nationalism and recent theories explaining the rise of Eastern European nations."

Marianne Kamp
Kluge Fellow, 2006, University of Wyoming, "Oral histories relating to the collectivization of agriculture by the Soviets in Uzbekistan."

Xiaofei Kang
Kluge Fellow, 2006, St. Mary's College of Maryland, "Contesting the Yellow Dragon: religion, tourism, and local history at China's ethnic borderland."

Marina Moskowitz
Kluge Fellow, 2006, University of Glasgow, "Seed money: the economies of horticulture in 19th century America."

James E. Sanders
Kluge Fellow, 2006, Utah State University, "Cultural and social history of democratic republicanism across Latin America in the context of the Atlantic world, from its rise in the 1820s until its demise in the 1880s."

Joel Seltzer
Kluge Fellow, 2006, Skidmore College, "Annals of revolt: Czech city chroniclers and the fashioning of the Bohemian Reformation."

2003

Mikhail Alexseev
Kluge Fellow, 2003, San Diego State University, "The origins of hostility: migration, insecurity, and ethnic prejudice at the Russia-China border."

Gregg Brazinsky
Kluge Fellow, 2003, George Washington University, "Cultural interactions between the US and East Asia during the 20th century and American intellectual and cultural relations with South Korea during the 50s and 60s."

Elspeth Brown
Kluge Fellow, 2003, University of Toronto, "Model Americans: a history of commercial modeling in the United States, 1884-1969."

Anita Callaway
Kluge Fellow, 2003, Australian National University, "The making of American visual culture: the enduring legacy of ephemeral art."

Svetlana Kujumdzieva
Kluge Fellow, 2003, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, "A cross-cultural study of the Oktoechos: John of Damascus, John Koukouzeles, Chrysaphes the New."

Carol S. Matthews
Kluge Fellow, 2003, Johnson County Community College, "Race, ethnicity, and American exceptionalism in American sectarian religious texts, including histories of American sectarian movements, Mormon materials, and Spiritualist journals produced in the United States since 1830."